I don't own Criminal Minds (wipes tears out of eyes) *sigh…*
Pulled In
I woke feeling incredibly well-rested, but when I opened my eyes the feeling immediately dissipated.
I had not gone to sleep here. Instead of under my nice, warm comforter I was on the floor of an apartment.
But that was not the freaky part.
This apartment looked exactly like I imagined Spencer Reid's. The walls were painted a fresh gray color and the floor was plain dark hardwood. The couch was a brown leather two-seater with a small square coffee table in front of it, it had ring after ring of stains from coffee mugs. There was a bulky black T.V. in front of the couch and the wall space surrounding it was covered with bookshelves, which were stacked and stuffed inside it in a desperate attempt to fit them all. There was a door to a balcony with another bookshelf next to it, also overloaded. I reached out to touch something, but my hand went right through it.
"What the hell?" I said
As I observed my bizarre surrounds in complete awe, I barley noticed when he walked in.
SSA Dr. Spencer Reid, in the flesh.
"Oh my god." I exclaimed.
"Who are you, and why are you in my apartment?" he said setting down his coffee on the table and resting his hand on his gun. He obviously didn't think that a thirteen year old girl with crazy curly brown hair and a roundish baby-like face could do much harm to him.
"I… I just woke up here. I cannot believe this is happening."
"What?" he said.
"I was a writing a story about you and JJ, Emily, Hotch, Morgan and Garcia. Mainly you, but that's not the point, I mean I always write about you because I your my fave character but… okay this is gonna sound insane but I think I just got pulled into my fan fiction." I rambled.
"Your fan fiction?" he questioned.
"Yeah, it's like fiction about books and movies and stuff that fans write. I love Criminal Minds. That's the T.V. show you are in…"
"I'm in a T.V. show?" he looked at me like I was crazy.
"Yeah. You're SSA Dr. Spencer Reid. You have three PhDs, you graduated high school at twelve. You have an IQ of 187, you have a eidetic memory, you read two thousand words per minute. You got addicted to Dilaudid after Tobias Henkel. You got anthrax. You got shot protecting that doctor after Hotch got stabbed. You got bullied really bad…. I'm sorry I'm rambling. Kind of like you, I guess." I gushed out really fast.
"How did you know all that?" he asked.
"They said it on the show."
"You're crazy."
"Okay, you of all people should know better than to judge people for being 'crazy'."' I said, air quotations and all.
He sighed. "Fine can you prove this is a fan fiction or whatever it was you called it."
"Well it's my story so I must be able to control it." I looked over to the bookshelf by the door and on my command it toppled over.
"Hey!" he yelled.
"Sorry." I said. "I can fix it, I think." As we watched in pure amazement, the book-shelf righted itself.
"Okay… wow." Spencer breathed.
"Yeah I know, but, and not that I'm not loving this, I kinda wanna get back to my real life. So I think I need to write the story. Sorry for any pain you might feel, but I still need to keep the readers entertained." I said in one breath.
"Wow… you talk fast."
"Nervous habit." I laughed really loud. "Um… that too."
"Am I making you nervous?"
"Besides the fact that I'm totally obsessed with your character? No not at all.."
"Oh…" he said.
"Well I guess we should get on with the story." I said.
"Oh wait, I forgot what's your name?" he asked.
I smiled. "Maximum. You can call me Max."
"Okay Max." he said.
I sighed, and began the story.
Dr. Reid put his morning coffee down on the table, he flipped open a book and read for a while. He was always unsure of what to do with his days off. Then his cell phone rang loudly, making him jump.
"That wouldn't make me jump!" he protested.
"This is my story, shut up, answer your phone and just be grateful I haven't thought of any pairing for this… yet."
Reid answered his phone. "What is it JJ?"
"We've got a case."
"I'll be right there." He said.
He grabbed his keys and coat and pushed open his door, which stuck slightly, before heading out into the grim reality that was awaiting him.
Reid rolled his eyes. "Grim reality?"
"What did I just say about shutting up?" I said.
He arrived at the BAU, and immediately greeted the rest of the team, waiting in the bull pen.
"Wait… Reid, who is the kid?" Hotch asked.
"Well this might sound strange but she was a writing a fictional story about us and is now controlling it from inside."
"Are you kidding me?" JJ asked.
A book flew across the room, stopping right in front of her face.
"Nope, he's not kidding." I said. I dropped it to the floor.
Hotch looked me up and down, and I could he was judging me. To anybody who didn't know me, I probably looked a little strange. I had on a bright purple strapless dress with a white shirt underneath, a black leather jacket, tights with a crazy crisscross pattern and high heeled combat boots. I had light eyeliner, mascara, and brown eye-shadow. My subtle pink lipstick covered my bitten up lips (another nervous habit) and my dyed auburn hair was left natural, which meant extremely curly and it had a large clip in feather on the side. I had a large heart on a chain around my neck. This left the impression that I had a weird boho chick punk crossover look and often left people to think I was some sort of trouble maker. Hey, it's my style. I'm a good student, I never get in trouble, and I'm pretty optimistic.
"Don't judge me. You of all people should know better." I said. "And anyways, you should be acting like I'm not here. This story is about you, not me. Now get back to the case."
They all turned away from me.
"Someone has been killing people in Las Vegas. Nobody has found a connection between them yet but the M.O. is the same."'
JJ pulled up the pictures on the screen for the others to see.
"Guys, I know these people." Reid said.
"What? Where do you know them from?" Hotch demanded.
"I went to high school with them. That's Jenny Keller, and that' Troy Vance. And that's… Alexa Lisbon."
Morgan looked over at Reid, recognizing the name. She was the one who had gotten Reid tied naked to a goal post in high school. Well, her and Harper Hillman Reid's eyes shown with hurt at the memory, and Morgan wished badly that he could go back in time and change what had happened.
"Do you think that someone is targeting people from your high school?" asked Rossi.
"It's possible, I mean Troy and Alexa were the some of the most popular people I school, but Jenny was a nerd compared to them."
"Wait, hold on a second, if this your story, can't you just tell us who the killer is?" Emily asked me.
"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. I don't know yet." I said.
"What do you mean wanted to, and don't know yet?"
"I'll come up with it later, I'm not sure where I'm going with this yet. If I told you, it wouldn't be much of a story." I explained.
"Oh."
I pointed towards JJ, "back to the case, darling." I said, slightly sarcastic
"Well," Said Hotch. "Were headed to Las Vegas, wheels up in twenty."
The team was all ready to go in ten, and they loaded the jet and waited for take-off.
"So, I guess were meeting your old peers, huh Reid?" said Morgan.
"Yeah, guess so." Reid looked much less than excited.
"What's wrong?" Emily asked him.
"I guess I'm just not stoked to see them all again."
"Oh come on, Spence." Said JJ. "You know they'll be impressed. Everything that you've done to help people. And you're going to help them."
"I know, but JJ… I just want to leave the past in the past."
JJ looked at him, and she could see the sadness in his eyes. He obviously didn't want to face these people. To tell the truth, never did she really. She didn't want to know the people who had caused that sadness. She knew how strong Spencer was, but people killed themselves over stuff like he went through.
About an hour or two later they landed in Vegas. They headed over to the police department which was filled with drunken frat buddies and hookers. Hotch gave them each a list of names from each high school to check out. Emily and Rossi with one list, Hotch and JJ with another, and Reid and Morgan with the last.
"What's the closets address?" asked Morgan.
"222 Sherwood Lane. Harper Hillman." Spencer said. Then he turned toward me. "Seriously?"
"Yes, seriously. Now let's get going, I'm itching to see what happens." I say.
"You're really annoying. You know that right?" asked Morgan.
"You bet'chya! Writer's curse." I replied.
"You know, I find it freaky that you know everything about us and we don't know anything about you." Spencer said.
"Well, that's what happens when you attract fan-girls." I say.
"So you're not gonna tell me anything about your self?"
"Fine. My favorite food is Mexican, I speak Spanish, I'm learning sign language. I want to be a director when I get older, my favorite books are Wuthering Heights, Twilight, Delirium, and Sherlock Holmes. I'm in chorus, yearbook committee, and color guard. Happy now?"
"Yeah." Said Reid. "It's weird having a girl I know nothing about be with me all the time."
"You know something about me now."
We pulled up to the house…
"Wait." Said Reid. "Couldn't you just make that ride a little longer?"
"No way José."
We pulled up to the house, it had bright cheery yellow paint and nice finished wrap-around porch in the front. It had flowers pots decorating the ledge and the front door was red with glass panes on either side.
Reid knocked on the door, and a woman with dark messy tied back hair. She had on no makeup and was wearing grey sweatpants and a large black sweatshirt. She held a kid of about two in her arms, and three others ran around in the background.
"Can I help you?" she asked. She looked at Reid, trying to place him. "Do I know you?"
"We went to high school together." He said. "You are Harper Hillman, correct?"
"Yes." She said. "You're Spencer. That nerdy little boy… oh I'm so embarrassed. Can I ask why you're here?"
"A serial killer has been targeting people from our high school and we wanted to ask you a few questions?" Spencer asked.
"You… you're the police?"
"Federal Agent actually. I work for the FBI in the Behavioral Analysis Unit. This is SSA Morgan."
"Who is that?" she asked pointing to me.
"She's Maximum, it's a long story… can we come in?"
"Oh yeah, sure."
The trio stepped inside to a bright living room cluttered with toys. The T.V. was left on Sponge Bob and three half eaten frozen pizzas sat on the coffee table. The walls were bright blue and the lights were almost blinding, the sofa was black velvet, and Morgan and Reid sat down there, while Harper took the rocking chair.
"So what was this about a serial killer?"
"We believe that he's targeting people from our high school." Said Reid.
"Have you seen anything strange lately? Someone following you or saying something strange to you?" Morgan asked.
"No, nothing. I'm sorry. Spencer, I mean for everything." Harper said.
"The past is the past, Harper."
"Wait… who has been… um killed?" she asked.
"Troy Vance, Jenny Keller, and Alexa Lisbon." Morgan replied.
"They're all… gone? Like were not gonna see them in twenty years at the reunion?"
"Yeah." Said Spencer.
A tear dripped down her cheek.
"I'm sorry." Said Morgan. "We have to go interview the others…"
"It's okay." She said. "I'll show you out."
Morgan and Reid returned back to hotel after a long day of interviewing Reid's old peers. They all asked pretty much the same questions as Harper, and it got boring fast. No one noticed anything at of the ordinary.
A/N Okay so the following story line for me isn't actually true. All the facts I've so said so far are true. But this won't be. I just need a reason for me to actually want to go back.
~MAXIMUM
Dr. Reid woke up in the middle of the night to crying. It couldn't be Morgan. So it had be either an intruder or… me.
"Are you okay?" he asked me.
I nodded. "Yeah I'm fine. I just want to go home…"
"What's wrong?" he asked. Sitting down on the floor next to me.
"It's my sister. I… they… she's in a coma. She was in the car with our friend and he was drunk…"
"Oh." He said. "I'm so sorry. I wish I could make this go faster."
"I wish I could to."
"You can make it, can't you?"
"I don't exactly control the people. I just have the basic storyline. I can't make you go anywhere or say anything. I can just cause things to happen that lead you there. I don't even know who the unsub is yet." I say.
"Oh." He said again. Then he smiled. "You'll get back."
I rubbed my eyes. "I hope so… I hope she's okay."
"She will be." He said confidently. He put his hand on my hand, but it just went through my skin.
"Oh. I'm sorry." He said. He hadn't known that would happen.
I smiled. "It's the thought that counts."
At this point I suddenly became aware of my body in the living world, maybe this meant the story was going to end soon. But then I realized that the reason was because it wasn't breathing. I wasn't breathing. I desperately tried to take in a breath of air.
"What's wrong?" Reid asked.
I hear a long high-pitched beep that sounded like a flat line. I heard doctors yell "CLEAR!" and I felt the pain of the shock. Once, twice, three times… and "CLEAR!"…. "She's back!" I took a deep breath and my face clouded with fear.
"My sister wasn't the only one in the car with our drunk friend. I think I just died and came back." I said.
Now I was racing the clock, I had to finish the story before I died.
The next day, after the team arrived mostly well rested.
"Any news?" Morgan asked.
"Another person has gone missing." Said JJ.
"Who?" asked Reid.
"Harper Hillman." She said.
Morgan turned to me. "Of course."
I just shrugged.
"Give the kid a break, Morgan." Said Reid.
I looked to him gratefully. And he nodded, excepting my silent thank you.
Hotch walked in. "We might have a witness. Reid and Emily, why don't you go check it out."
"Got it." Said Emily.
They climbed into the car, and headed toward the address Hotch had given them.
"So you knew Harper well?" Emily asked.
"Well, I guess you could say that."
"What do you mean?"
Reid sighed. "Well, her and Alexa Lisbon… they kinda tied me naked to a goalpost with the football team."
"What?"
"Yeah. Morgan is the only other person who I've told…"
"Didn't your mom notice?" she asked.
"No… when I got home that night, she was having one of her episodes."
They arrived at the house, saved from answering any more question about that unfortunate night Reid hopped out of the car with a sigh of relief. The house was almost identical to all the other houses in the neighborhood, including Harper's.
Emily walked towards the house, preparing to knock on the door.
"Hey, why are you following me now?" she asked.
"It's your point of view." I said.
"But it's been Reid's this entire time."
"Well now it's yours."
"Okay…" she said, wondering why.
She knocked on the door, and after several minutes of no answer, she tried again. And again.
"Maybe no one is home?" she said, turning to Reid.
"Emily look out!" he yelled.
Something collided with her head, and she fell to the ground. Staying conscious just long enough to see a black bag being forced over his head and a gun shoved into his ribs.
"Reid…" she moaned.
They pulled the bag off his head and shoved him inside the room, locking the door behind him. The room was small, with plain white walls and a concrete floor. There was a single light, high up in the ceiling and no windows. The only other contents were a hard looking metal chair and… me.
"Why did you do that?" he demanded of me, struggling with his bonds.
"I didn't mean to! My mind sees the best path for the story and it happens." I say.
"This is the best path?"
"Well, yes. I don't want you to get hurt. But I don't have total control. I told you that."
The door opened. A strangely muscular woman with short blond hair, jeans and a military sweatshirt on stepped into the room. She looked over to me.
"Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Maximum." I said.
She leaped towards me, hand out stretched to strangle me, but she just went through me.
"What the hell?" she asked.
"I'm not really here. I just seem to be I guess. You can just ignore me."
She turned towards Reid, "You can see her too?" she asked.
"Yes." He said. "She can't help me, she can't touch things."
"Fine, whatever. Let's just get this over with. Do you know who I am?"
"Tanya. Tanya Greene." He said.
"Yup, that weakling that everybody picked on. Even you." She said.
"When did I make fun of you?"
"No, don't be so stupid! That's not the answer. You should find a tutor." She mimicked.
"I wasn't making fun of you, it was a valid suggestion." He defended himself.
She kicked him hard in the gut. "Shut up!" she screamed. She continued to kick him over and over until he was completely out of breath and gasping for air.
The girl stopped suddenly. "Maybe I'll just leave you here to think for a while."
Reid coughed violently, and some blood ran down his mouth.
"I'm so sorry." I said.
"Can't you tell the team where we are?" he asked.
"I don't know." I said.
"Oh."
"I wish I could help. Please, can you forgive me?" I asked.
"You're forgiven." I was fading away from him.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"To the team's point of view." I say, my voice soft as I travel into the darkness.
The team was sitting around an ambulance as a EMT fixed up Emily. Harper Hillman had been found dead in the backyard It was raining now, and it was dark. When I appeared, Morgan looked so angry.
"How can you do this?" he screamed at me.
"You don't understand!" I said back.
"Don't understand? You got Reid kidnapped!"
"No… I didn't want him to!"
"Then why did it happen?" he was still screaming.
"Because I can't control it!"
"It's your story!"
"Would you just shut the fuck up and let me EXPLAIN?" I screamed.
Morgan, shocked at my display of language, shut the fuck up.
"I can't control it! My mind knew that it was the best way for the story to be interesting. I couldn't stop it! I only know what Reid knows, I have no idea where he is." I said.
"Reid must know the unsub if he went to high school with him." Said Rossi, calmly excepting the reality of the situation. "Can you tell us?"
"Yes. It's…." I froze. How could I not remember the name of the unsub? But not only that I couldn't even picture their face. Was it even a man or woman?
"I don't… I can't. I'm sorry." I said, tears rushing down my face. What the hell was wrong with me?
"It's okay." Said Morgan. I could tell that he was sorry he had yelled at me.
I was fading away again. I arrived again in Dr. Reid's room.
A/N The following scenes will contain bullying, I just want to warn you. There is also a lot of violence. I don't want anyone's puke on my hands so be careful what you read!
"Hey." He said.
I tried to smile. "Hey."
The door opened with a loud bang, causing us both to jump. The unsub stood there, twirling her knife in her fingers,
"Hello Dr. Reid." Tanya Greene said. Of course now I remember her name!
She let out a wicked laugh. "How was your night?" He looked at the knife she was now tracing her fingers with. He felt her cold, hard, evil stare on him. He knew she wanted revenge, and there was no way she would show mercy now.
"It was fine, a little cold, and I'm afraid the floor is a little hard, but other than that, it was perfect!" he frowned. "You didn't bring me breakfast in bed? You're a terrible hostess."
She slashed at him with the knife, leaving a long, deep, red line running diagonal across his chest. He gasped in pain, and she slapped him, a ring on her finger leaving a deep gash in his cheek. "You don't get to be mean to me anymore!" she screamed. She kicked and slashed at him, and by the time she was done, his entire body was covered in bruises and small shallow cuts. He thought it was over until he saw the taser in her hand.
Hotch stood in front of the round table room, about to address the team. He took a deep breath, prayed that Reid was still okay and turned towards the team.
"Last night Garcia found a video taken of Reid's high-school, it contains a lot of bullying and we think that the unsub might be one of the people in the video."
He hit play and sat back to watch. The first scene was of a girl who looked to be about sixteen with red hair, she was extremely skinny, obviously battling an eating disorder. The team walked up to her pushed her to the ground and started calling her names.
"Thunder Thighs!" "Fat Bitch!" "Cat lady!" they called out, laughing.
"Her name is Kendal Write." Said Hotch. "She's a lawyer, married with two kids and works mostly from home"
The next scene was of a younger girl, probably fourteen. She was struggling to read something, and one of the team members knocked her book of the table.
"Hey!" she yelled.
"I'm sorry, did I offend you, retard?" he asked.
"Stop it!" she cried out. The jocks kept knocking down her book and calling her stupid until she was full out sobbing.
"That's Tanya Greene." Hotch told them. "She joined the military after high-school"
The next scene was of a boy with long brown hair, big milk-chocolate eyes and nerdy glasses.
"Can we please skip this one?" Morgan asked Hotch. He knew what was about to happen as soon as a girl walked up to him and said "Alexa wants you to meet her behind the field house."
Hotch, having already seen it, immediately obeyed, the team saw three other victims, none of whom seemed likely as they families and high-paying jobs.
"The only person I would suspect is Tanya Greene." Morgan said.
"Let's have Garcia look into her life." Said JJ
"Oh my." Garcia said several minutes later. "This girl was in a mental hospital for several weeks, just released after trying to commit suicide, she recently made suspicious several purchases. Rope, duct tape, a large hunting knife and a taser gun."
"Guys, I think we have our unsub."
He was bleeding, bruised, and burned. He was fighting just to stay awake and his pain was an endlessly deep ocean. Still, he fought as much as he could.
"You don't have to do this." He rasped. He could barley breath, let alone talk. "I wasn't trying to hurt you, I was trying to help you."
That's when they a loud crash, a door breaking in, and heard Morgan shout "FBI!" And that's when Tanya started stabbing Reid.
JJ heard his scream from there. She ran towards the source. Without hesitation, Hotch shot Tanya Greene the moment he saw her trying to pull the bloody knife out of Reid's shoulder. JJ gasped. She could already see the other stab wounds, she counted six. She could see the horrible burns covering his body, the bruises and the cuts.
"WE NEED A MEDIC!" Morgan yelled. "Hold on Reid, hold on just a little longer, okay?"
Reid nodded, not having the energy to speak. He knew everything would be okay.
I was slowly fading away again. This time, I was sure I was going home. Reid looked at me, and with all the energy he could muster he said "See, your still alive. And your sister is too, I'm sure of it."
And then I woke up in the hospital. I convinced the nurses to wheel me down to my sisters room. I looked down on her sleeping face, wondering what she was dreaming of. And her eyes fluttered open, coming out of the confusion of the coma.